“. . .if you wish, you can join us on the Broad Highway.”
– page 55, 4th edition, Alcoholics Anonymous –
I don’t want to brag, but I have a gift for complicating anything.
The one thing I’ve managed to not complicate is the importance of the Home Group. I’ve always had a Home Group, and I believe that’s been a major factor towards my successfully staying sober.
The Home Group is the backbone of Alcoholics Anonymous, and if you don’t have a Home Group, you’re cheating yourself.
Once upon a time,
when I was a kid back in the early ’70’s my family belonged to an exclusive country club.
It wasn’t long before we became good friends with an affluent family at the club.
They had several kids, a big rambling house with a swimming pool, and a boat. We had a lot of fun together, and everyone got along famously.
Even though I was only about ten or eleven at the time, I noticed something a little peculiar.
Any time there was a party, or any type of gathering, their father always appointed himself Bartender, and he seemed to enjoy his mixology duties just a little too much.
I have this image of him at the bar, mixing drinks with a big grin. Those were the good times.
Alas, they were destined to be short lived.
In time his alcoholism stripped them of everything: the house, the boat, their good standing… My mom told me that years later he was seen in Boston…a gutterbum living on the street, drinking out of a brown paper bag.
Alcoholism is an equal opportunity destroyer. It doesn’t care how wealthy or educated or accomplished you are: It’ll strip you of everything and everyone you care about, and it will kill you on the installment plan.
That’s the Bad News.
The Good News:
Alcoholics Anonymous is never very far away.
Come along and do your life with us.
We want you, and we need you.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve done a lot of stuff you’re not exactly proud of.
We’ve all reached bottom, and we understand you better than anyone.
Alcoholics Anonymous has been hiding in plain sight the whole time you were ruining yourself.
But be prepared. Once you’re here, your life as you knew it is over.
There’s just no going back.
Before I got here, I always thought I had friends.
What I had was a passel of losers…drinking and drugging associates. A gang of knuckleheads who could keep up and drink & drug like me without keeling over, and see nothing messed up about it.
When I came here, I quickly found myself establishing meaningful relationships, surrounded by some of the best people I ever knew.
Being with people who actually get you is everything.
Somewhere, a little girl just broke into her parent’s liquor cabinet.
In about 10 or 15 years she’ll show up looking for a meeting, and we need to make sure we’ll be here for her.
In time she’ll turn around and start helping others.
…And the cycle will begin anew.
That was Doctor Bob’s fondest hope.
HERE’S THE TAKEAWAY:
This isn’t a temporary hobby, or a whimsical diversion . . . This is a lifelong discipline. Now that you’re here, there’s just no going back. Come along with us!
